An efficient transportation system reduces the cost of distance by moving people and goods from their origins to their destinations as cheaply, quickly, and safely as possible. By enabling individuals and firms to be more productive, transportation provides the foundation for the development and growth of industries and an entire economy.

Clifford Winston, Jia Yan, and Associates argue that competition and innovation are the key drivers of an efficient transportation system. The authors provide new evidence that transportation deregulation and privatization that spur additional competition among carriers and infrastructure providers, as well as new innovations that create autonomous transportation services, have the potential to rid the US transportation system of its major inefficiencies and revitalize the nation.